


To The Rescue

by Severina



Category: True Blood
Genre: Community: tv-universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-24 11:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7507123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He stares the little woman down, but it's Sookie's eyes that he feels on him.  Searching, he knows, for the 'good' man inside of him, the one that flew five thousand miles to be at her side when he felt her terror.  The one whose dead heart fluttered at the fear of being too late.  The one who will acquiesce and keep the wolf alive even knowing exactly what kind of <i>friend</i> Alcide Herveaux wants to be to Sookie Stackhouse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To The Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> Somehow I have written True Blood fic. I have no idea how that happened. Just pretend this takes place sometime post-memory-return and Sookie made the smart choice and stayed with Eric. Thanks to persnickett for some ol' time writers chat and giving good advice while I moaned and threw up my hands a lot. Written for LJ's tv_universe 'Paging Dr. Kildare' challenge (write a fic that includes a medical doctor.)
> 
> * * *

The sense of urgency has diminished, but Eric does not stop until he is through the door and standing on the worn and weathered rug. He smells the wolf, the blood, the sudden sharp and scintillating tang of fear at his abrupt appearance. He senses Jason's hand dip toward the gun in its holster, hears the _snick_ as the boy's thumb flicks open the snap on the leather. But his eyes are only for the woman.

"Sook?" Jason says.

"It's all right, Jason," she says, glancing toward her brother before taking a step toward him, palm raised. "Eric, everything is fine."

"I know," he says. "I was halfway across the Atlantic when your distress eased—"

Sookie gulps. "The… Atlantic?"

"—but I was already too far gone to turn back," Eric finishes. He deliberately does not think of how apt that metaphor is for his life with Sookie Stackhouse. "What misfortune has found you now, Sookie?"

"It wasn't my fault! And as you can see it's all taken care of. Almost," Sookie says, gesturing with a shrug. "Just a little werewolf trouble."

A little werewolf trouble. Eric follows the sweep of her arm and takes in the disarray of her living quarters: the broken glass, overturned tables, shattered television screen. The bullet casings on the floor. The blood. Were-blood this time, but it could have been hers. He feels his fangs slipping, his voice dipping into a growl. "I've warned the wolves to stay away."

"Alcide is my friend," Sookie scolds lightly. The pale skin between her eyes puckers when she frowns at him, in a way that is not at all cute or endearing. "He couldn't help it that he was here, visiting, when that wayward werewolf from Atlanta found him. Or that she chose an automatic weapon instead of claws like a normal wolf. The pack is out searching for her, and I already called Dr. Ludwig and she zipped right over." She leans in and lowers her voice. "Did you know she drives a Porsche?"

"I'm surprised she can reach the pedals," Eric answers dryly.

"I heard that, vampire," Ludwig calls from where she is bending over Alcide on the sofa. The little doctor clucks her tongue when the wolf moans, straightens as much as her bowed spine will allow. "This is a toughie. Got silver fragments embedded in the bone, all along the spinal column. Gonna be a long surgery – and a pricey one."

Sookie bites at her lower lip. "I have a little money put aside—"

"Mr. Herveaux runs a very successful business," Eric interrupts. "I'm sure he'll have no trouble settling your account, Dr. Ludwig."

"Very pricey," Ludwig repeats. "Got a new sound system for the Porsche I've got my eyes on."

He stares the little woman down, but it's Sookie's eyes that he feels on him. Searching, he knows, for the 'good' man inside of him, the one that flew five thousand miles to be at her side when he felt her terror. The one whose dead heart fluttered at the fear of being too late. The one who will acquiesce and keep the wolf alive even knowing exactly what kind of _friend_ Alcide Herveaux wants to be to Sookie Stackhouse.

Eric sighs. "Send your invoice to Pam tomorrow evening. She'll have the accountants take care of it."

Sookie's hand, soft and so warm, squeezes his arm in gratitude. The doctor merely sniffs; blinks up at him owlishly before nodding and pointing a crooked finger at Sookie's brother. "You!" she snaps. "You look strong. Carry him to the kitchen table and then fetch my other bag from my trunk! Now, boy, unless you want this wolf to die!"

When Jason jerks his gaze away from them and scuttles to obey, Sookie pales and turns to the doctor. "I thought everything was… he's not going to—"

"No, though I've got a long night ahead of me. Just helps to put a little scare into the young ones to get 'em moving." Ludwig cackles before she shuffles toward the kitchen, stopping only to crook her neck up – way up – to meet his eyes. "Might pick up that rear wing spoiler, too. _Very_ pricey, vampire."

He can easily envision snapping the little doctor like the twig she is and feasting on her entrails, but then she is past him and Sookie is leaning against him lightly, her hand on his chest. Her head tilts toward his and he is drawn to her without conscious thought.

"Were you in Paris? At your flat? Bill told me once that you had one there. That's like an apartment, right? You didn't have to come all this way," Sookie says. She smiles up at him brightly. "But I'm glad you did."

"In my case, the flat is a very large, very old, very ostentatious billet in Saint Germain-des-Prés. I could take you there… but I think my villa in Barbados may be more to your liking."

"Mmmm." She leans in more fully, and if he stays very still he can feel her heart beating strong and sure against his chest. He has no problem staying very still. "Don't they have white sand beaches in Barbados? I could lay out all day—"

"And when I woke I could lick the sunlight from your skin."

Her smile turns slightly wicked. "And other things?"

" _Many_ other things," he promises. 

"Um, guys? I'm back, and that’s my sister you're talkin' about, mister!"

Eric swivels his head slowly to where Jason is hovering in the archway. "Aren't you supposed to be assisting Doctor Ludwig?"

Jason frowns, shakes his head before his gaze flicks toward his sister. "Am I?"

"It would probably help," Sookie answers. "I'll be there in a few minutes." She waits until Jason has nodded reluctantly and moved off before turning back to him, her crooked smile managing to be fond and exasperated at the same time. Much like he often finds himself thinking of Sookie herself. "Were you goin' to glamour him?"

"If it would make him leave us alone," he answers.

"I really shouldn't have to point out that glamouring my brother is off limits, Eric."

"I have no limits, Sookie," he says, if only to see her eyes widen with surprise and then darken with lust. "Now, we were speaking of the Caribbean."

"I've never been farther than Dallas with you and Bill that time," she says. "And even then I never saw much more than the Hotel Carmilla, nice as it was and all."

"We could return there," he says. He leans down, her hair soft against his cheek as he breathes into her ear. "Though I cannot promise that you would see any more than that on a second visit. I doubt that I would be able to bring myself to let you out of that bed."

Her answering shiver is faint but unmistakable, and he gives in to the urge to swipe his teeth along the column of her neck. Her pulse jumps enticingly even without the brush of his fangs. "Tempting," she says, drawing back slightly to meet his eyes, "but I think I might prefer the beach."

"Then we must—"

"I could use your strength out here, vampire!" Ludwig screeches from the kitchen.

Eric snaps his head back, grits his teeth. "That woman has no respect."

Sookie's hand closes on his. "Go on and help her. Alcide must be suffering horribly. And the sooner he's healed…" She dips her head. "Well, there's still hours before dawn."

He is over a thousand years old. He can resist one doe-eyed human with a gap-toothed smile and fluttering lashes. But it takes more effort than it should for him to take that first step away; to turn his back on creamy flesh and the promise of what lay beneath that crisp cotton sundress. She is persuasive, his Sookie.

But he is not without his own charms. He may end this night curled in the cubby with Sookie slumbering at his side, but he has no doubt that tomorrow will find them both far from Louisiana. He pauses in the foyer; pulls out his phone and sends a quick text to Ramon to start the process. Fresh linens, an array of delicacies to tempt the human palette. He can already see Sookie emerging naked from the water on his private beach, her long hair dark and heavy and the moonlight painting her skin. 

"Eric!" Sookie says, coming even with him, clean towels bundled against her chest. The tiny crease between her eyes is back, the one that makes him want to press his lips there to soothe it away. "Doctor Ludwig needs you out there!"

"Of course," he says, inclining his head. "My love."

He leaves her flustered and stammering in his wake. He can hold the wolf down, endure Ludwig's barbs and what will surely be a preposterous fee for her services. He can tolerate much for Sookie Stackhouse.

And tomorrow, he will have her smile and her body and her blood under a Caribbean sky. He smiles to himself even as the wolf howls. Life is good.


End file.
